Health minister fired over Covid test kit scam

Minister of Health Nguyen Thanh Long was dismissed from his position Tuesday for his involvement in a Covid-19 test kit scam after being expelled from the Communist Party a day before.

The National Assembly, during an ongoing sitting this month, approved the government’s vote in the morning, expelling Long from the legislative body.

Nguyen Thi Thanh, head of the delegate issues unit under the National Assembly Standing Committee, told media that a report showed Long had earlier intervened to allow Covid-19 test kits provided by Viet A Company to be circulated across the country. She said the report mentioned his main violations.

Phan Quoc Viet, CEO of the company, was arrested by the police in December 2021. He then admitted he had inflated the price of a Covid-19 test kit by 45% and given huge bribes to corporate partners and leaders of provincial and city centers for disease control nationwide, asking them to distribute and use Covid-19 test kits provided by his company.

The health minister and Hanoi Chairman Chu Ngoc Anh (former Minister of Science and Technology) were ousted from Vietnam’s Communist Party under a Party Central Committee decision issued Monday. The decision followed a proposal last Saturday from the Politburo, the Party’s decision-making body, asking the committee to take disciplinary action against both senior officials.

They were found to have violated regulations on Party member conduct, “causing very serious consequences, damage to the state budget; affecting the country’s anti-pandemic efforts; causing anger in society; and affecting the reputation of Party organizations of the ministries to the point of having to face disciplinary action.”

Deputy Minister of Health Do Xuan Tuyen is the acting head of the ministry starting Tuesday under a Politburo decision.

Also on Tuesday, the ministry announced Deputy Minister Nguyen Truong Son had submitted a resignation letter for official consideration.

Son signed a certificate in 2021 allowing Covid-19 test kits provided by Viet A Company to be distributed in Vietnam.

Lieutenant General To An Xo, chief of staff and spokesperson of the Ministry of Public Security, told a government meeting on Saturday that Viet A earned up to VND4,000 billion ($172.47 million) illicitly, of which VND800 billion was spent on bribes.